And I do think that one day all my trying will pay off and Martha Stuwart will show up on my doorstep, and I will get to teach her a thing or two!

heh heh heh...

(At least that's how it all goes down in my head)

See...I, along with the rest of the known world, have just discovered how amazing, and wonderful, and delightful spaghetti squash is. It's an awesome replacement for the carby goodness, aka the real stuff, but with barely any calories! AND healthy! Bonus!

My tastebuds first sang of its praises at my friend Rebecca's 30th birthday dinner, and I have vowed to try my hand at it ever since.

So, last night was the night. I could feel it.

I was even stoked that my cute little squash came with its own cute little label of..

...wait for it...

DIRECTIONS!

(I know!!)

I followed the directions to the "T"

1. Microwave squash for 2-3 minutes to soften the skin...CHECK!

2. Carefully cut the squash in 1/2 and scoop out the seeds....annnnd this is where it got a little tricky

It took me 20 minutes just to cut the dang thing open.

Not to mention my poor squash lost 1/2 of its 1/2 of his body in the process.

But I didn't let this deter me! I was on a roll!

3. Season and place face down in a microwavable dish with 1/2 inch of water...CHECK!

4. Microwave for 10 minutes...CHECK!

5. Let cool and then begin to scrape the body length wise to make your "spaghetti"....Uhhh Check...?

See, this is where I should have listened to my instincts.

Instincts: "Hmmm...the texture doesn't really feel too...spaghetti like...? Well, it is healthy...maybe that's how it is suppose to be? Was Becca's like this...?"

Lord, thank you for this year. Thank you for all the pain, the difficulty, the learning curves, and the joyous shouts. Thank you for my husband; a man that is undeserved, a gift only You could give. Thank you for my family; the family I was born into, the family I have inherited, and the family everlasting. Thank you for my life; my life now, and my life to come.

With the exception of that one time in elementary school when I found the "hidden worm" at Discovery Zone and was awarded extra tickets in order to claim a bigger prize at the ticket counter.

...I think I got a [super cool] pencil...

So, imagine my surprise when fellow blogger Joanna Hyatt informed me that she was nominating me for the Beautiful Blogger Award. It simultaneously humbled and blessed the crap out of my heart!

Please visit Joanna's blog HERE. You will find unbelievable insight and wisdom into all things woman, sex, relationships, marriage, and boundaries. Not to mention, Joanna is single-handily one of the funniest people I know, and that trait deviously makes its way into a majority of her posts.

Part One

With this award comes embarrassment, as I have get to share a few choice details about myself. So, lets get to know each other a little more, shall we?

1. I am an only child, and fight HARD against the sydrome...only child sydrome that is.

2. I help deliver humans. Yep, that's right. One of the 19848930 jobs that I currently do, is that I am a labor and delivery coach for expecting women...better known as a Doula (a whata!?) This means that I not only have the pleasure of helping women through one of the scariest and emotional times in their life, but I also get to see a human take their very first breaths of existence. Not a bad gig.

3. I love soup. No, you don't understand, I LOVE soup. Literally, if it is 90 degrees outside, give it to me. The Man is thrilled with this love of mine. Every time we go to Gelson...or any market for that matter...I silently sneak off to find out what delicious-soupy?-goodness they have to offer. It's a blast for him...

4. I have attended an African funeral. For as long as I can remember, my heart has turned itself towards Africa. So, a few years ago when I was given the opportunity to visit Mozambique, I jumped on the chance...by myself...literally. During my time there, I stayed with The Kunymela House; an organization committed to finding homes for street kids, and a member of a close family to the organization died an unfortunate and horrendous death. We were invited to the funeral. In the midst of an unending field, under a vast blue sky, I wept with a family I had never previously met. Though we spoke different languages, grief still translated.

5. I helped start a women's magazine entitled Darling Magazine with 4 other women. We are now on our second issue. Check it out HERE

6. Probably the MOST important thing about me is that I love Jesus. Call me a Jesus Freak, I could literally care less. My life is lived for His glory. Though I screw up every single day, every single day (and then some) He is faithful to me.

Part Two

One of the coolest things about this award, is that I now get to pass along the honor. So here is a snapshot of some of the blogs holding my attention this month.

This blog is written by my very best girl friend. Though, to be quite honest, she would be getting this award whether I knew her personally or not. Nicole has a true knack for phraseology and wording. Her posts are raw (and so is her diet) as she invites you into her world of marriage, dogs, recipes, and starting her very own grassroots event design company.

I found this blog a while back, and all I can say is SWOON. First of all, Paige herself is gorgeous, and seems to have an equally gorgeous heart to match. Here you will find beautiful pictures, a beautiful family, raw bits of life, and a place to purchase her super cute hand-made bags

It seems that everyone and their mother knows of Naomi's blog...but that is because it is just so dang GOOD. Here you will find a journey of dating, marriage, babies, moves, and travel told through beautiful photographs. Not to mention she does some pretty sweet giveaways.

Weslie chronicles the hilarious moments of motherhood, marriage, and life. I stumbled across her blog a bit ago, and have continued to come back to it time and time again. Literally, I laugh so hard at some of her posts...liiiiike out loud. I love it, and you will too. Take my word for it.

Recently, I came across a pretty incredible blog.
It's by a man named Dan Pearce of the blog "Single Dad Laughing" (Click HERE for a direct link.)
Amid other [often times hilarious] posts, Dan humbly airs his failed marriage's 'dirty laundry' in a 2 part post dedicated to 31 ways he feels he blew his marriage.

Now, mind you, it is written from a male's point, yet I [quite female] found myself literally in tears by the end of it. I felt that God had given me a little present in these posts
...perhaps even a neon sign...
directing me off routes I can tend to take at times in my own marriage.

See...the problem with blogs, is that we bloggers can often portray a very [filtered] version of marriage, and life. Do not mistake me, The Man and I have a very deep rooted friendship with one another, a friendship that I feel comes to our aid exponentially in the midst of some of the "not so pretty" moments of marriage. (Yes, we have those. Shocker!)

And again, though this is written from a husband's eye, us wives could stand to take a note or two from this list as well.